


To Have And To Hold

by HereComeDatBoi



Series: you're the one that's making me strong [20]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Married Adam/Shiro (Voltron), Married Life, Mild Angst, honeymoon fluff, newlyweds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-23
Updated: 2019-09-23
Packaged: 2020-10-26 15:07:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20744186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HereComeDatBoi/pseuds/HereComeDatBoi
Summary: “I don’t think I want a new arm, sunshine.”“Really? Why?”“Because as long as I’ve got this one, I’ll always have something to protect you with,” Takashi said simply. “And if it can keep you safe, it can’t be a flaw, can it?”“Well, no,” Adam admitted. “But I’d rather you figure out that you’re fine the way you are without me being a factor.”“I know, love. But for now—well, it’s a start, right?”“Yeah. Yeah, it is.”





	To Have And To Hold

**Author's Note:**

> yet another tumblr prompt, we're back on the fluff lads

_"Now let us make a vow together. We shall both share love, share the same food, share our strengths, share the same tastes. We shall be of one mind, and observe the vows together. I shall be the_ _Moon, and you the Sea, I shall be the Upper World, you the Earth; I shall be Air, you the Water – together we shall live and beget children, and other riches; come thou, sweetheart, unto me!"_

_ * _ _ _ _ * _ _ _ _ * _

They spent the first three days of their honeymoon hiking in the hills and swimming in the cluster of secluded pools near the bungalow, and on the fourth morning Shiro decided to try scaling the nearly-perpendicular face of the waterfall Adam used to play in with his sisters when he was a child. His new husband followed him to the place with spare clothes and a laden picnic basket, cheerily certain that Shiro was only bluffing—until he skirted the frothing basin just below the falls and began searching for a way up, at which point Adam dropped his basket and scolded like a man who had been married for fifty years rather than just five days. 

“Takashi,” he protested, running after Shiro and wrapping his arms around his waist in an annoyed sort of hug. “You can’t be serious. I was  _ twelve  _ the last time I climbed that, and somewhere around eighty pounds. There’s no way you’re going to get even halfway up without hurting yourself.”

“I’ve climbed up less forgiving things in my life, sunshine,” Shiro assured him, worming his toes into the first foothold and searching for somewhere to put his hands. “I’ll be fine, just wait and see.”

“The last time you said that, you vanished on a mission and didn’t come back for the next five years,” said Adam, unimpressed. “And you must have had your suit on while you were climbing things in space,  _ janu. _ ”

“It’s just a waterfall, honey. I don’t need a suit.”

“Oh yes, it’s just a waterfall until he falls and smacks his head on the rocks,” grumbled his husband, spreading out the picnic blanket and sitting on it with all four of his limbs drawn up into an irritable knot. “But by all means, go ahead.”

Shiro did go ahead, and made it about halfway up to the peak thirty feet above them before he slipped and skidded down about four meters of sheer brown rock, tumbling straight into the water from the shelf where the cliff evened out and surfacing a minute later in an enormous cloud of bubbles. Adam burst into laughter at the sight of him, kicking awkwardly to shore and paddling along one-handed like a puppy out of its depth before he finally dragged himself out and fell onto the grass at Adam’s feet. 

“What did I tell you?” he said gently, pushing a sodden lock of hair out of Shiro’s eyes and kissing the patch of sunburned skin between them. “You’re too heavy to take something that wet, love. Now come sit down and eat.”

They finished their little picnic in blissful silence, though perhaps their place setting had more to do with it than the atmosphere; Shiro had taken off his thin white tunic and spread it on a rock to dry, and while he sat deliberating between two kinds of candy from the basket Adam came over with a plate of rotis and  _ chhole  _ and plopped down against Shiro’s bare chest. 

“Do you mind me sitting here,  _ janaana? _ ”

“No,” Shiro spluttered, turning beet-red as Adam leaned up to kiss him. “You’re lighter than a feather, it’s fine.”

But then Adam put the sweetmeats away and fed him bread and  _ chhole  _ with his own slender hands, and that had been as much as Shiro could bear. At last he gave up all pretense of coolness and drew Adam’s fingers to his lips for a kiss after every bite, and so they whiled the rest of the afternoon away by the pool in each others’ arms—as was wholly appropriate for a honeymoon, whether it was taking place almost five years too late or not. 

When they were back at the house Shiro vanished into the bathroom for a shower, leaving Adam to put away the picnic things and stretch himself on the porch swing for a nap. He did not stir again until almost an hour later, and when he opened his eyes he sat up and wondered briefly what had woken him; the farm’s green fields seemed as silent and still as the moon itself, just as they always were, and Takashi—

And then Adam heard the little moan again, followed by a pained-sounding huff drifting out of the window directly above him. 

“Sweetheart?” he cried, jumping off the swing and clattering back into the cottage before bolting up the stairs. “What’s the matter?”

“Nothing,” replied his husband, apparently still barricaded in the second-floor bathroom. “It’s nothing, you don’t have to come in.”

“You’re hurt,” Adam insisted, putting his foot on the threshold to stop Takashi from closing the door again. “Tell me,  _ makhnaa,  _ please—”

Shiro sighed and nudged his foot back out. “I cuffed my shoulder on the bed of the pool when I fell, that’s all. It’s just a little swollen.”

“Which one?”

“My right one.”

“Then how did you get hurt?” said Adam anxiously, slipping into the bathroom before Shiro could push him away. “Shouldn’t the socket have protected it?”

“It got forced into the stump,” Takashi confessed. “I thought the bath would make it feel better, but it didn’t. Nothing’s damaged, though, it’s just sore.”

“I’ll get the numbing ointment, then,” Adam promised, pressing his lips to Shiro’s forehead and making for the pile of luggage in the corner of their bedroom. “Did you pack the first-aid kit in the red suitcase or the green one?”

“The green one, I think.”

Once the ointment was smoothed on and covered by a clean white cloth, Shiro finally consented to leave the bathroom and come downstairs for dinner, which he spent looking absolutely heartbroken over his bowl of pork onion soup. The two of them hardly spoke during the meal, and though Adam tried again and again to get him to smile his husband would not so much as meet his eyes. 

They cleared away the dishes in silence, and when they finally went to bed half an hour later they lay without speaking until close to midnight before Takashi turned over and sighed. 

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I didn't mean to scare you, sunshine. I'll listen next time, I promise."

"I'm not worried about that, baby. And neither are you, so don't lie to me. I can bear anything but that." 

"It really doesn't bother you?" Takashi said, in such a small voice that Adam felt his chest start aching. "That I'm like this?" 

"Like what?" 

"Crippled, I guess." 

"This again?" murmured Adam, smoothing a hand over his husband's cheek. "Your dystrophy didn't matter to me when we got engaged the first time, so why should you having an arm straight out of a sci-fi movie matter now?"

“Because I’m still not whole, not really.” he said, pointing to the gap between his elbow and shoulder. “You—you could have had anyone, love. Anyone in the world would have been lucky to be with you, and now you’re stuck with m—”

“I’m slightly concerned about the value you’re putting on a single bicep,  _ janaana. _ And while we’re at it, I’m not whole, either—do you want to leave me for someone more complete, then?”

“Wh-what are you talking about?” Shiro’s eyes were wide and glazed with tears, and Adam could no longer tell whether they were tears of pain or frustration. “Compared to you, I’m—”

“I died, Takashi. Allura and Coran literally reanimated me. I didn’t get a new body, not like you did—I was an actual  _ corpse  _ for three whole days before they got to me, and if it wasn’t for you I would have stayed that way. Shouldn’t that put you off?”

“Please don’t talk about that,” Shiro choked. “After everything we did to bring you back, I don’t ever want to remember what it was like—”

“Am I less to you, for having died and come back?”

“ _ No!  _ No, of course you’re not—I went to that absolute hell you were trapped in to bring you home, Adam! And I would have stayed with you there, if you hadn’t agreed to come!” he shouted. “I followed you with just a fool’s hope of getting back alive, because there was the slightest, slimmest chance that we could save you and I—”

“Then tell me, ” said Adam thickly, “why should I think any less of you for being short an arm? Takashi, I  _ married  _ you. I’m not leaving you again until I leave in a casket, you hear me?”

“But—”

“And if you want your old arm back, I...I can just make you a new one. A new, living arm, made of flesh and blood. I’ve already healed all of these, anyway.” 

He lifted a hand and brushed it along the patch of clean skin over Shiro’s nose, where the old arena scar had been until the night of their wedding. The outpouring of quintessence that erased it had been stronger than either he or Adam could fathom at the time, and suddenly it seemed completely plausible that the same sweet power could mend every fault of his body, no matter how great or small. 

“Think about it, and tell me in the morning. And if you want to, I’ll make it happen. I promise.”

* * *

_ “I don’t think I want a new arm, sunshine.” _

_ “Really? Why?” _

_ “Because as long as I’ve got this one, I’ll always have something to protect you with,” Takashi said simply. “And if it can keep you safe, it can’t be a flaw, can it?” _

_ “Well, no,” Adam admitted. “But I’d rather you figure out that you’re fine the way you are without me being a factor.” _

_ “I know, love. But for now—well, it’s a start, right?” _

_ “Yeah. Yeah, it is.” _

  
  



End file.
